Some pre-Halloween "dressing-up"

So, apparently Ashlee changed her mind and wanted to be a pirate instead of a princess this year for Halloween. While I was at work and Dad was ...? Ashlee had a great time doing a pretty darn good job making a mustache and beard on her face with my eye liner. Oh, this little angel.... I know if I haven't seen for for more than a minute or two she is up to something!! In the last week or two alone she has managed to squirt Purell in her eyes and mouth, bite open a glow bracelet that we were handing out for Halloween (I would have called poison control on that one, but I have been there and done that with Andrew when he was this age-- despite how it looks, that glowing stuff is non toxic), she dumped an entire bottle of frog food into the small fish bowl and an entire bottle of fish food into the large fish tank. (She also drank some insect repellent while we were in Hawaii a few weeks ago, did call poison control on that one and again- no worries!) Hopefully she and Mommy survive this "phase"!

Check out my Precious Prints photocard site to see what my sister and I have been up to. As my sister put it "we've been busy little elves". Hard to believe that Christmas is really just around the corner!

Palm Trees to Pine Trees

I feel like we've hit all extremes in the last week or so. Conference Sunday we took the moment and drove up near Snow Basin Ski Resort. It was beautiful! The pine and aspen tree covered peaks were freshly snow capped and the leaves were brilliant colors. Even Andrew said they were "butiful". It was a perfect interlude between morning and afternoon General Conference. I thought conference was especially recharging this year. I appreciated Elaine Dalton's thought: "In the Lord I can do hard things!" I'll have to remember that when the "back breaker" 3rd child comes.

An autumn outing wouldn' t be complete without a few snapshots of the family and the leaves:



While yesterday we were bundled up in coats and jackets, a few days earlier we were roasting in the sun on the coasts of O'ahu Hawaii admiring palm trees and crystal clear blue waters. Justin's parents are serving as LDS missionaries at BYUH and the Polynesian Cultural Center and of course we couldn't resist taking the opportunity to visit them. The kids anticipated it for weeks and after shopping for seemed like Christmas (for things to occupy the kids for the 6 1/2 hour flight), we made the plunge.

The flights went amazingly well, however, I was surprised at the challenge of jetlag for the kids. Ashlee was up around 4:30am for the day, everyday! So that made for early trips to the beach (Justin's parents condo was right on the beach),



lots of great sunrise pictures,


mostly taken by Justin as he took the kids out so I could catch a few more moments of sleep. Justin's parents were amazingly patient with our "jetlagged" kids and just loved them to death. They were real troopers! We were in a studio apartment, so when the kids were up, they were up and the same at night.

Justin's parents also made great tour guides. We checked out the famous Waikeikei beach, Pearl Harbor, the Dole pineapple plantation,


the Polynesian Cultural Center,


several beaches for swimming and surfing--go Justin! (Unfortunately 6 days in the sun wasn't enough to help our skin blend in a little better with the locals.)



We also had many wonderful homecooked meals back at the condo. Most meals we enjoyed eating out on the lanai listening to the waves crash just yards away.

Some of the highlights of the trip included watching Justin catching a wave surfing, Andrew overcoming great fears of the water and playing for hours in the waves of the ocean,

seeing Andrew and Ashlee adore their grandparents (and vice versa),



doing a session at the Honolulu temple,


eating at the famous Ted's Bakery (actually famous for pies)-- the only hamburger that has come close to In 'n Out Burger, watching the kids fall fast asleep on the red-eye flight home and sleeping even through the landing (not to mention luckily getting on the flight, flying stand-by with 50 other stand-by passengers!)

It was paradise! Thank-you Grandma and Grandpa Hogge for everything!